I can’t quite remember where I first saw the Galo Novo Cruisin’ 318, either on Reddit or on Instagram. But I do remember that I found the design very interesting right away. With its colorful, pastel-hued vintage dial and the contrast between the black, easy-to-read hands and the matte case, it immediately caught my attention. I like the blend of vintage and modern styles, and I was also looking for a summer watch that wasn’t too expensive—and I ended up finding it in the Galo.
- Galo Novo Cruisin’ 318 Specifications:
- Size: 39 mm
- Thickness: 11.5 mm
- Approx. 70 g
- Lug-to-lug: 46.5 mm
- Strap width: 20 mm
- Sapphire crystal
- Movement: Miyota 9039 automatic, approx. 42-hour power reserve
- Water resistance: 100m (however, no screw-down crown)
- Price: €430 – plus 19% import tax and €12 shipping, for a total of approximately €530
- Website
I got the watch in the first drop in March 2026, but there was another one in May, and if I understand the website correctly, there’s likely to be yet another one coming soon. So apparently, I wasn’t the only one who really liked the watch. But seeing a watch online and actually wearing it on your wrist are two completely different things. That’s why I was really excited and am writing this little review. I haven’t found many online, actually. To get started, I recommend this one on Reddit.
Real photos of the Galo Novo Cruisin’
Let’s start with the gallery. I deliberately chose not to include any glossy photos, but rather ordinary shots taken off the cuff, because there are plenty of perfect photos on the manufacturer’s website. But I’m always interested in what a watch looks like when you simply take a picture of it with your cell phone. So here’s the Galo Novo Cruisin’ in various situations and lighting conditions; I’ve also included a few videos further down:
Order and Delivery
First of all, the delivery was a bit delayed; I received it about six weeks after placing the order. But that’s pretty normal for microbrands, and it didn’t bother me, even though Galo’s communication could have been a bit better. The watch didn’t come directly from Galo in Australia, but from China. It was clear that, given the price, the watch wasn’t produced or finished in Australia. But I would have expected at least some quality control to be performed before the watches are shipped. I’m bringing this up because quite a few people on Reddit were somewhat disappointed—minor flaws on the dial were the most common complaint. And even though around 500€ tends to be more of an entry-level price in the watch world, 500€ is still enough money to expect a flawless product. My dial, however, is perfect—even with a magnifying glass, I can’t find any flaws. That said, my watch had another issue that I didn’t notice until a few weeks later: the automatic rotor tended to get stuck, causing my Galo to stop a few times.
Luckily, I found a nice watchmaker who was able to fix it quickly. He said the movement, rotor, and case didn’t fit together properly, but I didn’t quite understand exactly what the problem was. Since then, the watch has been running perfectly fine. So why start with the negative? Because it took some of the joy out of owning the watch for me right from the start. I didn’t expect Rolex-level quality, but I don’t think flaws on the dial or a rotor that seizes up are acceptable—even on a €200 Timex, for example. Galo needs to improve its quality control. Other microbrands manage to do this, and the Galo isn’t my first microbrand watch. That said, I have to admit that a defective watch doesn’t necessarily indicate an objective quality issue—I might have just been unlucky. But that’s exactly what I don’t want to risk when I’ve been waiting a long time for a watch, pre-ordered it, and just want to look forward to it.
Galo Novo Cruisin as my summer watch
But now that the watch is running perfectly and I’ve mostly forgotten about the initial frustration, I’ve been wearing it quite regularly, especially now that it’s summer. My wardrobe tends to be fairly subdued, with shades of green, brown, gray, and dark blue, and the Galo adds a certain something even to a simple outfit of linen pants and a T-shirt. At least from my perspective, because as we all know, normal people don’t pay attention to other people’s watches. The colorful—yet not garish—dial still catches the eye. I think the color choice is pretty much perfect. I was actually looking for a yellow summer watch, but as I wrote on Instagram a while back, I just couldn’t find the right one. But the Galo hits exactly the right note for the playful summer watch I was looking for. The center features a yellow-to-white gradient, followed by an orange, a pink-red, and a pastel green ring, all rounded off by the 12-hour steel ring, which isn’t rotatable (and why should it be?). The pastel green ring also looks as if it’s slightly less raised than the rest of the dial. But that’s just an optical illusion caused by the slightly curved sapphire crystal, which adds yet another exciting effect to the design.
Case
The Galo Novo Cruisin’ case, at 39 mm, is perfect for my wrist (16.5 cm circumference), and the slightly curved lugs make the Galo super comfortable on my wrist. I can barely feel it, even though the watch has a very pleasant heft to it. I couldn’t find the official weight of the watch, so I weighed it on my kitchen scale—with the strap, it comes in at about 70 grams, making it slightly heavier than, say, my DUG Purist. But I don’t feel that weight on my wrist at all. The Galo comes with two different straps: a brown leather strap and a black racing strap. Since watch straps with standard dimensions (115 mm × 80 mm) don’t really fit me well, I immediately swapped it out for another one. I actually had to look around a bit until I found the perfect one. But luckily, I now have quite a few different watch straps at home. I first wore a Hirsch Osiris, but it was a bit too thin, so the watch wasn’t very comfortable; then I switched to a Shell Cordovan from Nomos, and that’s just right. It’s significantly thicker than the Hirsch one, but it’s still not a thick watch strap.
The Galo Novo Cruisin’ has a glass caseback, so you can see the movement and the black rotor—which is a nice feature if you usually only have screw-down casebacks on your watches. But since I already have two beautifully decorated open-worked movements in my Omega CK859 and Nomos Minimarik, the Miyota movement in the Galo isn’t anything special.
I think it’s a shame that the crown isn’t screw-down. The Galo is water-resistant to 100 meters, but if I were to go swimming with it, I’d feel safer with a screw-down crown. So while the Galo Novo Cruisin’ is a wonderful addition to my collection—it gives me the summery, vintage vibe I’ve been looking for—as a Gada, I’d need to be sure the watch wouldn’t break after a swim. Others are certainly less cautious, but especially with the rotor, the watch is more of a fashion statement than a tool for me. That’s a bit of a shame, and I hope Galo is working on its quality assurance. I’m also currently looking for a Skindiver, and the Galo Super200 gives me similar great vintage vibes as the Novo Cruisin’—but I need to be able to trust a watch that I also want to use for snorkeling.
Day to day
But I’ve worn the Galo at a beer garden, while hiking in Saxon Switzerland, on a city trip to Prague, while strolling through Berlin, and even just in my everyday life and at the office. It looked great everywhere. The watch is truly versatile in style and goes well with both classic outfits—to add a little flair—and earthy, natural colors. I don’t wear many bright or colorful pieces, so I can’t really say whether I’d think the watch would go well with them.
Review of the Galo Novo Cruisin’
I like this watch and have been wearing it quite often this summer. I have a large rotation of about 20 watches, and the Galo keeps winning me over, especially on sunny days. Someone once told me that almost all the watches I own are a little off their rocker, and the Galo is definitely the exact opposite. It’s quirky and colorful without being childish, and it has a great vintage vibe. Galo just needs to win me over again when it comes to quality assurance, and then I’m sure this won’t be my last Galo.
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